Something longtime readers have probably figured out by now is that I am kiiiind of a big Free/Open Source Software fangirl. I make every attempt to use said software when I can, and this affects everything from my browser to my image editor to my IM program to my word processor to my entire operating system. In fact, the reason why I am on Linux is not so much that I’m some sort of computer wizard, because I’m really not– it’s that it’s one of the best ways I can think of to support an ideology that I love.

Because of this, a lot of things that many people take for granted are off-limits to me, and it’s something I am okay with. Shandara’s Hunter DPS Spreadsheet and its predeccesor Cheeky’s have always been some of those things. I’d have to jump through hoops to get Excel installed on my system– too many hoops, in my opinion– and the Open Office versions (when there have actually been Open Office versions) lack a lot of functionality. And so yours truly has always been Spreadsheet-less. And it always made me feel a bit awkward when I would get requests to “Make a blog post about ‘The Spreadsheet’!” … since I didn’t use it.

However, it has been brought to my attention by both Lethal Shots and Improved Tracking that a version of said Spreadsheet is now available online… no Excel required.

I immediately hopped over to test it and was quite pleased with it. You can import your character from the Armory and then do things like tweak your spec or your pet’s spec or your shot rotation and see what the resulting theoretical DPS is. It even includes some fun options such as “Test your DPS with the current 3.2 PTR changes”.

So far I’ve learned that whether or not you are raid-buffed makes a big difference in determining whether you want 1/2 or 2/2 Go for the Throat (At my gear level, 1/2 is sufficient in a raid, but not for mostly solo or small group stuff), and I have also learned that Mortal Shots really isn’t worth a lot as a Beast Master. I’ve always felt awkward only putting 2 or 3 points in there rather than the full five, but anyway I put it, going 5/5 Mortal Shots as opposed to putting those points elsewhere (like in Survival) was a DPS loss… assuming you’re fighting something trackable, of course. So that made me feel a lot better about that.

I also learned that wearing my shiny new Conqueror’s Scourgestalker pants over my old Valorous Cryptstalker is also a slight DPS loss because I lose the +5% pet damage set bonus. I wonder if it would still be a DPS loss if fully raid-buffed. I didn’t check that. /ponder

ANYWAYS! I’ll stop yakking about it and encourage anyone to go check it out and play around with it! The great thing about it is that its results are customized for you and your gear. But remember: it’s not the bible, just a guide!

And a great big THANK YOU and /hugs to whoever made it, enabling us non-Microsoft folks to finally enjoy Spreadsheety goodness! <3 (P.S. the site seems relatively self-explanatory to me, but if I get a lot of requests for a more in-depth "how to" regarding it, I'll provide one. So leave a comment if you're interested in that!)